Dogs in Spain

Remember yesterday's Spanish pooch in the blue polo shirt? He's my segue from All Things Blue in Spain to The Dogs I Met in Spain:

Spanish city dogs seem very well cared for. They wear collars and/or halters. They look well fed. They are taken on walks by their owners.

They also know how to hang out quietly while their owners enjoy tapas and something to drink:

This is "Mousie," an elderly Cocker Spaniel. Her owner ran a little boutique, and Mousie sat outside or in, depending on her mood. Her owner gave her a pillow to lie on, if she wanted:

Spain permits dogs on leashes in their outdoors food markets. This pup waited patiently for his owner to make her purchases at La Boquería, Barcelona's ginormous, over-the-top food market (I'll do a separate post on it another day):

(I didn't notice the "No Photos" sign, in the photo above, until I got home. Ha!)

(I wonder if he's hoping she'll buy some meat for him?)

Yorkies were the single most populous dog I saw in the cities. This little flotilla of Yorkies was outside the Prado, in Madrid:

Some dogs in Spain have jobs. This hound was helping his musician owner dig up tips. (The dog wasn't blind; I just caught him mid-blink):

Another dog/street musician pair:

This slightly-starved-for-affection blondie was the "outside dog" at a hotel deep in the country. He had a bed and he wasn't skinny, but his job was to stay outside day and night and bark when anybody approached the property. He took his job seriously, but ohhhh, he loved the head skritches:

In the countryside, a handful of dogs seems to roam free on every farm. The little ones are watch dogs (their job is to make noise) and the big ones guard dogs (specializing in intimidation). They often charged the fence as we hiked by:

Most of the farm dogs seemed to have a bark on one end and a wag on the other. Some country dogs were downright thrilled to see us:

One day we watched a large flock of goats being driven along a path to a fenced-in field. There was a farmer and his shepherd dog at the front of the pack, leading the goats. But deep in the pack, I noticed this big, beautiful dog, walking along placidly at the same pace as the goats:

I wondered, what was his story? Our guide told us that sometimes farmers toss a big-breed puppy in with the goats. They feed it meat but otherwise leave it alone. It grows up thinking it's a goat, just one of the herd, and it moves and sleeps and eats with them. But if the herd is threatened, the dog will charge the intruder to defend "its" family. Here's another "goat dog":

This little gal was on a two-month camper van vacation with her German owners:

This was the only dog I saw in an E-collar. She belonged to the family that owned a bodega up high in the mountains:

Okay, it's not a dog, but one of our fellow hikers wore these socks one day. Crazy but cute, eh?:

Did I see a pug, you ask? Of course I saw pugs! If there's a pug within a 10-mile radius, my "pug-dar" will pick him up. My favorite pug find was "Cacho," an almost-four-year-old puggie who lives in Seville:

Heh! What a face!

That's about it for dogs in Spain.

Next up: The cats of Spain!